OH NO! THERE GOES TOKYO!

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2018)

The film opens with a narration. It explains that a portal has opened connecting us to another universe in the Pacific Rim. Through this hole emerges destructive creatures from 60's Japanese films, updated of course. In a missed plot point, conventional means of fighting them seem to be useless, so we construct 100-150 foot tall robots called Jaegers to combat them. Missiles fired from Jaegers are effective, but...okay I tried not to think too hard about it.
The Jaegesr are controlled by 2 people, dressed in "Star Wars" storm trooper gear, that are in a mind meld that would make Spock green with envy. They are called pilots because Jaeger masters might be a copyright infringement.
The film combines elements of "Independence Day," "Starship Troopes," "Transformers" and "Ironman" and sets them into a stolen Japanese plot. Of course the rule is if you steal a plot from Japan you have to hire someone from Japan to be in the film, hence we have Rinko Kikuchi as Mako Mori. She will eventually team up with John Rico, eh ah Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam because Casper Van Dien is too old) to fight against the monsters coming at an increasing rate. There is a subplot that includes Ron Perlman and Charlie Day.
There are two schools of thought. One is to use the Jaegers to kill the creatures, the other is to build a war to keep out the illegal aliens. When the wall fails to keep out the illegal aliens, the Jaegers can defend the world thanks to "stand your ground" principles. Pardon my attempt at political humor.
The supporting characters were better written than the main ones.
This is an over dramatic, action packed popcorn film. The language is designed to appeal to a teen/young adult audience. Looks good on the big screen.
Parental Guide: 1 F-bomb. No sex or nudity.